Baltic States – CIS, EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Legislation, Russia, Ukraine

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Although the Minsk agreement on cease-fire and withdrawal of forces is fragile, it provides the opportunity for the implementation of the ceasefire, and the Heads of State and Government confirmed the readiness of the European Union to help with the implementation of the agreement.  “There are no grounds for great satisfaction with the cease-fire conditions reached; still I hope that this agreement will be implemented, and blood shedding in Ukraine will stop,” Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma commented today to journalists.

The European Council confirmed that there are no grounds for making changes to already adopted decisions on imposing the sanctions against Russia’s officials who endanger the stability of Ukraine. The members of the European Council also acknowledged that preparatory work on additional restrictive measures against Russia and its officials is underway, and the Heads of State and Government will return to this issue no later than in March. 

During the meeting, the officials also discussed the work of the EU Member States and the European Commission on the implementation of counter-terrorism measures. The decisions regarding these mechanisms were made at the meeting of the Ministers for the Interior and Justice held on January 29 in Rīga. Thus, the joint statement of the Ministers for the Interior and Justice gained the support at the highest political level.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the Heads of State and Government launched the discussion on deepening the European Economic and Monetary Union, and President of the Eurogroup J.Dijsselbloem informed about the progress in negotiations on the Greece program.  J.Dijsselbloem informed the Heads of State and Government that technical work is underway and further discussions will be held among the Ministers for Finance on February 16.

At the meeting, President of the European Council Donald Tusk highly appreciated the work of Latvia’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union.